Pabst Brewing Company 1910

Beautifully engraved certificate from the Pabst Brewing Company issued in 1910. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of two allegorical women flanking the company's logo. This item is hand signed by the company’s vice-president and secretary and is over 93 years old.






Certificate Vignette



About Pabst Brewing

It was in 1844, when Wisconsin was still a United States Territory, that German immigrant brewer Jacob Best and his four sons opened a brewery on Chestnut Street hill in Milwaukee.

The original brew kettle had a capacity of just eighteen barrels. This modest undertaking was eventually to become today's Pabst Brewing Company, one of the largest brewers in the world.

In the mid 1850's Phillip Best set his sights on Chicago, 90 miles to the south, and there set up the company's first branch sales office and warehouse. On his many Lake Michigan boat trips to Chicago, Phillip was often accompanied by his daughter Maria. It was on these trips that they became acquainted with Frederick Pabst, a steamship captain on the Great Lakes.

Phillip found in the young captain a kindred spirit, with the same belief in the future of American industry that he had. The brewer was not the only Best to take notice of Fred Pabst. The dashing captain's good looks and charm had captivated Phillip's daughter Maria. She, in turn, had won the captain's heart, and in 1862 Maria Best and Fred Pabst were wed.

When in 1864 Captain Pabst bought a half interest in the Phillip Best Brewing Company, the plant's production was 5,000 barrels a year. Nine years later, the output was 100,000 barrels and Captain Pabst was President of the Company.

At thirty-seven, the Captain was just beginning to show what he could do. He went out after the best brewmasters of his day, even traveling abroad to sell the virtues of living in America to the men he wanted to work at the Milwaukee brewery. He increased the capacity of his brewery by convincing the stockholders that the profits should be put into bigger and better equipment.

Today, the Pabst Brewing Company markets a variety of different brands of beer, in order to satisfy the widely varied tastes of the American public. While each of these brands has its own distinctive flavor and character, all are brewed to Pabst's demanding standards of quality.